A customer brought in the front wheel from an R-SYS SLR.
The front hub had play, so I replaced the bearings.
The play was confirmed both when shaking the wheel side-to-side on the fork
and by pressing both ends with my finger on the wheel alone.
Swapped out the OEM contact bearings...
...for aftermarket contact bearings.
The front hub play is now gone.
The amount of center offset you wouldn't expect on a front wheel, but it's normal for Mavic.
So close!
Got the center dialed in. Did some radial truing as well.
This R-SYS SL front hub (and the rear as well)
uses the QRM SL mechanism on the hub end,
adopted since the original white-painted flange R-SYS SL.
QRM is the classical method of bearing play adjustment with double nuts,
QRM+ is the method where a special tool grabs four of six holes to adjust bearing play,
and this is supposedly the lightweight version of that—though in reality only a few grams lighter.
The QRM SL structure is essentially what we call a press-fit end in this blog.
There is no bearing play adjustment mechanism.
Minor play might be eliminated by tightening the quick-release properly, but that's about it.
Common misconception: we don't carry Mavic products in this shop.
So this time we handled the play issue by replacing the bearings.
This is something I've wanted to write about for a long time—
the proper method for eliminating play in QRM SL hubs.
↑This is the handout I copy and give to customers when they ask
about play in R-SYS SL or SLR hubs.
Mavic calls the left press-fit end the frame/fork support.
This part has grooves as reference marks, and as the number of grooves decreases,
the length of the end's contact surface increases by 0.1mm increments.
The stepless adjustment on QRM+ becomes fixed-increment adjustment of 0.1mm on QRM SL.
One other thing that concerns me: with QRM+ the bearing play adjustment
barely changes the relationship between hub body and left end,
but with QRM SL only the left end lengthens,
so I'd expect center offset visible on a center gauge to develop.
The front fork support starts at 15.0mm with four grooves,
and increases 0.1mm for each fewer groove,
while the rear frame support starts at 19.8mm with four grooves
and increases length by 0.1mm for each fewer groove.
Adjustment procedure.
Left image above: the side where the Mavic logo is closer is the left side,
and since the press-fit end is positioned on the left, remove it first.
Right image above: First install the shortest end with four grooves.
But here's what matters: the four-groove end in the right image
is probably not the one originally on the wheel (more on this later).
Left image above: Tighten the quick-release thoroughly,
Right image above: Check for play.
If there's play with four grooves, try the next size up with three grooves.
If there's still play with one groove, replace the bearings themselves. That's what it says.
Among customers asking to have QRM SL hub play fixed,
not a single one has known about this end-swapping method.
Mavic dealers aren't enforcing awareness of this.
Hell, some shop staff don't even know about it.
And one more thing:
The press-fit end on this hub had two grooves.
The customer didn't work their way down from four grooves
(this customer didn't know about the grooves either).
It came this way from purchase.
From what I've seen, the grooves are usually three or two,
with four being quite rare.
Two grooves means there's only one more end swap possible.
At the factory, they probably start from four grooves
and install the first end where play disappears,
but not starting at four grooves is a bit questionable.
By the way, the reason Mavic wheels have so much center offset isn't
because they randomly determine the QRM SL groove count after building...
Center offset appears on QRM+ wheels too, and
the amount of offset caused by QRM SL end selection would be negligible.
Like this front wheel, the offset amount is far too large
to be explained by that.
↑This is a separate case—a rear wheel from Ksyrium Pro Exalith SL
brought in because spoke tension was slack on both wheels
and the customer wanted them tensioned. I took this shot during that job.
I told the customer beforehand, "Tensioning more and more doesn't necessarily make the bike go faster...
so unless the tension is actually slack, I won't do additional tensioning beyond truing purposes."
But it really was slack, so I brought it up to about the light side
of the factory average tension.
I don't have an image of it, but the customer saw me dial in the center offset perfectly.
This wheel's end (and hub axle)
reverted to QRM+ and the bearing play adjustment mechanism is back.
Here's the explanation text for QRM and QRM+.
QRM+ says "premium bearing system," but the word "premium"
applies to the whole "bearing system," not just the "bearings."
There's no quality difference in the bearings between QRM and QRM+.
So it doesn't mean "premium bearings"—
it means "(our company's) premium bearing system (with easy bearing play adjustment)."
The word QRM looks like an acronym, but if you go by the explanation text
of Mavic High Quality Bearings, it would be MHQB.
By the way, CULT is Ceramic Ultimate Level Technology,
and SPQR is Latin for "Senate and People of Rome."
I found the answer by looking back through older catalog years.
In French: Quality Bearing Mavic (direct translation),
so the previous version is its English translation.
Finally. I mentioned earlier we don't carry Mavic,
but among Mavic dealers, it seems we rescue customers more often
than those crappy shops that only know how to sell and abandon.
The front hub had play, so I replaced the bearings.
The play was confirmed both when shaking the wheel side-to-side on the fork
and by pressing both ends with my finger on the wheel alone.
Swapped out the OEM contact bearings...
...for aftermarket contact bearings.
The front hub play is now gone.
The amount of center offset you wouldn't expect on a front wheel, but it's normal for Mavic.
So close!
Got the center dialed in. Did some radial truing as well.
This R-SYS SL front hub (and the rear as well)
uses the QRM SL mechanism on the hub end,
adopted since the original white-painted flange R-SYS SL.
QRM is the classical method of bearing play adjustment with double nuts,
QRM+ is the method where a special tool grabs four of six holes to adjust bearing play,
and this is supposedly the lightweight version of that—though in reality only a few grams lighter.
The QRM SL structure is essentially what we call a press-fit end in this blog.
There is no bearing play adjustment mechanism.
Minor play might be eliminated by tightening the quick-release properly, but that's about it.
Common misconception: we don't carry Mavic products in this shop.
So this time we handled the play issue by replacing the bearings.
This is something I've wanted to write about for a long time—
the proper method for eliminating play in QRM SL hubs.
↑This is the handout I copy and give to customers when they ask
about play in R-SYS SL or SLR hubs.
Mavic calls the left press-fit end the frame/fork support.
This part has grooves as reference marks, and as the number of grooves decreases,
the length of the end's contact surface increases by 0.1mm increments.
The stepless adjustment on QRM+ becomes fixed-increment adjustment of 0.1mm on QRM SL.
One other thing that concerns me: with QRM+ the bearing play adjustment
barely changes the relationship between hub body and left end,
but with QRM SL only the left end lengthens,
so I'd expect center offset visible on a center gauge to develop.
The front fork support starts at 15.0mm with four grooves,
and increases 0.1mm for each fewer groove,
while the rear frame support starts at 19.8mm with four grooves
and increases length by 0.1mm for each fewer groove.
Adjustment procedure.
Left image above: the side where the Mavic logo is closer is the left side,
and since the press-fit end is positioned on the left, remove it first.
Right image above: First install the shortest end with four grooves.
But here's what matters: the four-groove end in the right image
is probably not the one originally on the wheel (more on this later).
Left image above: Tighten the quick-release thoroughly,
Right image above: Check for play.
If there's play with four grooves, try the next size up with three grooves.
If there's still play with one groove, replace the bearings themselves. That's what it says.
Among customers asking to have QRM SL hub play fixed,
not a single one has known about this end-swapping method.
Mavic dealers aren't enforcing awareness of this.
Hell, some shop staff don't even know about it.
And one more thing:
The press-fit end on this hub had two grooves.
The customer didn't work their way down from four grooves
(this customer didn't know about the grooves either).
It came this way from purchase.
From what I've seen, the grooves are usually three or two,
with four being quite rare.
Two grooves means there's only one more end swap possible.
At the factory, they probably start from four grooves
and install the first end where play disappears,
but not starting at four grooves is a bit questionable.
By the way, the reason Mavic wheels have so much center offset isn't
because they randomly determine the QRM SL groove count after building...
Center offset appears on QRM+ wheels too, and
the amount of offset caused by QRM SL end selection would be negligible.
Like this front wheel, the offset amount is far too large
to be explained by that.
↑This is a separate case—a rear wheel from Ksyrium Pro Exalith SL
brought in because spoke tension was slack on both wheels
and the customer wanted them tensioned. I took this shot during that job.
I told the customer beforehand, "Tensioning more and more doesn't necessarily make the bike go faster...
so unless the tension is actually slack, I won't do additional tensioning beyond truing purposes."
But it really was slack, so I brought it up to about the light side
of the factory average tension.
I don't have an image of it, but the customer saw me dial in the center offset perfectly.
This wheel's end (and hub axle)
reverted to QRM+ and the bearing play adjustment mechanism is back.
Here's the explanation text for QRM and QRM+.
QRM+ says "premium bearing system," but the word "premium"
applies to the whole "bearing system," not just the "bearings."
There's no quality difference in the bearings between QRM and QRM+.
So it doesn't mean "premium bearings"—
it means "(our company's) premium bearing system (with easy bearing play adjustment)."
The word QRM looks like an acronym, but if you go by the explanation text
of Mavic High Quality Bearings, it would be MHQB.
By the way, CULT is Ceramic Ultimate Level Technology,
and SPQR is Latin for "Senate and People of Rome."
I found the answer by looking back through older catalog years.
In French: Quality Bearing Mavic (direct translation),
so the previous version is its English translation.
Finally. I mentioned earlier we don't carry Mavic,
but among Mavic dealers, it seems we rescue customers more often
than those crappy shops that only know how to sell and abandon.